Surviving a studio bankruptcy, a director exiting the project, a possible union strike, and a stomach ulcer, “The Hobbit” is actually happening and in the midst of a 14 month shoot. The highly anticipated pair of films have largely been operating with full interaction with the fans, with Peter Jackson frequently hitting Facebook to provide updates and answer questions, but fans have also been savvy and while today brings the official confirmation of the titles of each film, they’ve been knocking around for a couple of months now.

New Line, Warner Bros. and MGM have announced that the first film will arrive as “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” with the followup titled “The Hobbit: There and Back Again.” Referencing/acknowledging the source material directly (“An Unexpected Journey” riffs on “An Unexpected Party,” the first chapter of the book while “There And Back Again” is lifted directly). Tolkien-heads should be more than pleased.

So, when will you get to see these 3D sequels? Well, “An Unexpected Journey” will land on December 14, 2012. The move will certainly piss off Fox which has Ang Lee‘s adaptation of “Life Of Pi” scheduled for the same day. We expect it to be moved out of the way shortly. Meanwhile, “There And Back Again” will hit on December 13, 2013 which currently has nothing else slated and we imagine, most studios will steer clear.

Zhao said with her Bass Reeves biopic, she’ll direct a more traditional cast like she did with her first-timers: “You can work with an actor in a certain way, you can create an environment like Terrence Malick has always done.”